


Christmas Miracles Can Sometimes Include Cake!

by KittyKatWriter19



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Holidays, I have no regrets, Implied/Referenced Character Death, One Shot, Other, Overstimulation, Panic Attacks, Post-Canon, Self-Indulgent, Self-Insert, Trans Character, and pure self indulgence, but Kat goes by Samira, kinda??, lio still has his burnish powers it's just never mentioned, no angst just pure fluff, promare - Freeform, the ship's name is LioKat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28329024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyKatWriter19/pseuds/KittyKatWriter19
Summary: It's Samira and Lio's first Christmas Eve together, and Samira wants him to have the best Christmas of his life!So she tries baking him a cake.What could go wrong?
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	Christmas Miracles Can Sometimes Include Cake!

**Author's Note:**

> Hewwo!! I wanted to start writing fanfic again, so I made a Christmas fic of my Promare self ship!! I love Lio so much and he means a lot to me and I wanna show that love!! I hope you enjoy this oneshot and please leave a kudos if you can!!
> 
> (also this is the first fanfic I've written in YEARS so if it sounds weird i apologize ;; I'm still learning how this site works-)

Ah, Christmas. 

A time filled with lights, holly, snow, and baked treats.

A time where family and friends come together to relish in the Christmas spirit!

Of course, that’s what Lio had always heard.

No one ever mentioned how crowded and busy the streets were on Christmas Eve, nor how noisy. A simple trip to the market to get milk has now become a grueling adventure. Struggling through the sea of people, groceries in hand, Lio didn’t think the streets would get _this_ bad, but then again, who could blame him?

While on the run, him and his fellow Mad Burnish brethren never really had time to celebrate the Holidays. And even when Freeze Force wasn’t chasing their asses, they didn’t have much to celebrate to begin with.

Now that the world’s been saved, Promepolis has been rebuilt and pro Burnish laws have been established, (along with the abolishment of Freeze Force), the Burnish can once again enjoy these times of merry without having to fear anything.

  
  


Finally managing to reach his bus before it leaves, Lio takes a seat and breathes a hefty sigh. He looks over at his bag of groceries and checks to see if anything was damaged; milk and cream cheese look fine, eggs weren’t opened, and the oreos were seemingly untouched. “That’s good” he thought, “the last thing I want is to come back home with crushed oreos and cracked eggs-“ Lio stopped mid sentence as he realized...

  
  


“That’s right.” a soft smile growing on his face, “Home.”

Even after all this time, Lio still couldn’t believe that in the span of two years would he manage to not only have a place of his own, but also have someone to share it with.

And that someone was his partner, Samira.

They had met not long after the construction of the city had finished. Samira moved to Promepolis in hopes to help her friend jumpstart their baking business, and Lio just happened to be their first customer. However, it was by accident since Samira, being her clumsy self, spilled hot chocolate all over him. 

After stuttering apologies from the owner (and Samira offering to pay for his dry cleaning), they settled for giving him a free dessert and a half off coupon for cream puffs. He came back the next week, since cream puffs were one of his favorite desserts. Soon enough, he became a regular there. And his growing friendship with Samira had started.

  
  


Despite their ungraceful meeting, Samira and Lio hit it off pretty quickly. Escalating from playful banter behind the counter, to short walks at night, hanging outside of work, and comforting conversations on the days when Lio’s anxieties creeped up on him. Seeing her bright smile and cheery eyes always melted those fears away. It was no surprise that he eventually fell for them.

After 9 months of pining and one inept confession from Samira, the two were now in an official relationship.

With this being their first Christmas together, Lio couldn’t wait to get back home and spend time with his beloved partner.

He wondered what they were doing right now...

  
  


————————

  
  


“ **AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”** Samira screamed.

“It’s ruined!! Completely ruined!!” She wailed as she looked at the charred mess on the stove that was _supposed_ to be a cake.

“Aw come on, it can’t be that bad!” spoke Kai, her aforementioned friend and boss.

“It IS that bad! Look!” Samira pressed the switch camera option on her phone. 

“ _Oh._ ” 

“EXACTLY!”

Samira then slumped herself on the nearest chair and buried her head in her hands. “What am I gonna do? Lio’s gonna be back any second and I just burnt his surprise!” she starts to scratch her head intensively

“Hey, hey, don’t scratch your head like that! You’ll hurt your scalp!” Kai chided.

“Sorry..” 

“Now, just take a deep breath and calm down.”

“Okay..” Samira sniffs while wiping her eyes. She inhales, ready to take a big breath.

The doorbell rings.

….

“I gotta go.”

“WAIT-“ 

Samira ends the call and hastily sits up from her chair, wipes down her hands on her frilly apron, and makes a beeline for the door. She quickly stops by a nearby mirror and smooths out their hair to look more composed. However, before they head for the door again, she hears a small _click!_ Samira curses internally, “Shit! I forgot he has his own key!” 

The door swiftly opens to reveal Lio, bags in hand, he seems panicked. “Samira!! Are you okay?!”

Samira slowly turns around. 

“Heyyyyy sweetie, you’re home early!” She says in an artificially sweet tone.

Lio briskly put the groceries down and rushed towards his partner, he pulls her into a tight hug. Surprised, Samira hesitantly returns it.

Lio moves both of his hands to hold her shoulders and draws back “I saw the smoke coming from the kitchen window and heard the fire alarm, what happened?” Samira’s blood ran cold.

“ _Fuck, he’s onto me._ ” She needed to think quick, which was something that’s _definitely_ not her forte. “I uhhh..lit too many candles and one of them caught a curtain on fire.” Wow that was a totally _genius_ lie, cue the mental facepalm.

Lio narrows his eyes and crosses his arms “Uh huh.”

She darts her gaze to the floor, hoping to avoid Lio’s piercing stare.

He sighs, “Honey as much as I want to believe you, I know for a fact that you can’t stand it when certain things are out of place in the apartment. For example, you’d prefer if the candles were, say, the bathroom, or our room.”

Samira gulps, Lio continues.

“You’ve also stated that you never wanted to put them in the kitchen because it feels weird to you. Right?”

“Yeah…” She fiddled with the frills of her apron. Curse his perceptiveness.

“So what really happened?” 

“I uh wanted to- uh I wanted...”

Lio waits patiently as Samira stumbles through her words, trying to get out her sentence.

“....”

“You wanted to what?”

“Bake you...uhm..” Her face flushes.

“Take your time.” He reassures.

She takes a deep breath.

“ **I WANTED TO BAKE YOU A CHRISTMAS CAKE!!!!!** ” They scream, exasperated. Lio’s taken aback by her outburst.

“Wait what-“

“ISAWTHISREALLYCUTECAKERECIPETHATKAISENTME”

“Samira-“

“ANDITHOUGHT‘LIOLOVESSWEETSISHOULDMAKEITFORHIM’”

“Samira-“

“BECAUSEIKNOWTHATYOU'VENEVERREALLYHADAGOODCHRISTMASANDYOUDESERVETHE BEST”

“Samira slow down-“

“SOITRIEDMAKINGITANDITWASGOINGOKUNTILIGOTDISTRACTEDBYMYSISTERCALLINGMEANDIGOTCARRIEDAWAY”

“Samira!”

“ANDLEFTITINTHEOVENFORTOOLONGANDNOWIT’SALL BURNTANDIMSORRY-“

“SAMIRA!”

Before she could continue on her rant, Lio placed both of his hands on the side of her face. “Calm. Down. Take a deep breath with me, ok?” they didn’t answer as her mouth was completely shut, as well as her eyes. 

“Samira” Lio says again, this time more gentle. “Look at me, focus on me ok?”

Samira slowly opens her eyes to look at Lio’s shining ones. Sometimes she forgets how beautiful they are, she could stare at them for centuries if she wanted to. 

She was so distracted by his eyes that she nearly forgot that she was trying to control her breathing.

“Okay now in” Lio inhales, “and out.” and then exhales. Samira follows suit, even if her breath was shaky, she found herself feeling a little more grounded than before. They repeated this exercise for a few more minutes before Samira’s breathing was under control again. Lio was the first to speak.

“Better?” 

“...yeah.”

She returns Lio’s touch by putting her hand on top of the one that was on her cheek. “I’m sorry I freaked, I just wanted to surprise you with something really special since, you know, it’s our first Christmas together.” she stares at the floor again, embarrassed by her outburst.

“Honey it’s fine-” Samira raises her hand up before Lio continues, “Not finished yet.” She clears her throat, “I also know that you’ve never exactly had a ‘good Christmas’ either and I think that’s bullshit. You’re one of the most kind and caring people I’ve ever met and you deserve the absolute best!!” She huffs and crosses her arms.

Lio’s cheeks turn pink at the last sentence. Even though she’s probably said it to him a million times before, Lio still had..doubts about his self worth. For most of his life he thought his purpose was to lead and protect the Burnish, as well as be on the run. With all of his failures and mistakes, he didn’t think he deserved anything good. 

Hearing her say that makes him want to cry.

And not only that, but his heart was warmed by the fact that she attempted to bake something for him. Considering that Samira wasn’t really confident in her baking skills in the first place.

He gives her the most heartfelt smile he could muster, “That’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. You really are wonderful, Samira.” he takes her hand, holding it in a firm, but loving, grip.

Now it was her turn to blush, “Aw gee, well” she nervously rubs the back of her head, “I try my best.” Lio chuckles. Samira then realizes something “Oh yeah! You brought back the groceries right? Eggs, milk, and oreos?” 

“Yeah, I put them down over there.” Lio points to the bags near the door. 

“Perfect!! I can still make another cake!” she walks on over and picks up two of them, “Grab the milk gallon for me would you?” “Yeah.” Lio hurries his way over and grabs the milk jug on the floor. 

After making their way into the kitchen, they set the contents down on the counter. As Lio was putting away the plastic bags, an idea popped into his head. Samira was currently texting her friend, Kai, reassuring them about what happened (and apologizing for the sudden hangup). As she was looking up the recipe again, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She looked over to see Lio crossing his arms, a determined expression across his face.

“Let’s bake it together.”

Samira gawks at him, dumbfounded. “Huh?”

“I said, let’s bake it together.” He reiterates. 

“Oh no, you don’t have to!” she ensures him, “You already got the supplies, I can do it myself.” 

Lio pouts, “ but I _want_ to. You’re already doing so much for me as it is.” She gives him a skeptic look, he sighs.

“Look I know I’m not the best at baking, or cooking in general-”

“Yeah, you kind of aren’t.”

A tick mark appears on Lio’s head, “Wow, thanks for the confidence boost.” He deadpans. Samira puts her hands up in the air. He continues, “I also want to do this with you because…” his face turns a bright red, “I…missed you a lot today. I want to spend as much time with you as I can.” Lio starts to hide his face in his turtleneck, _God_ he probably sounded so childish right now.

Those worries were quick to fade, however, as Lio instantly found himself propelled into his girlfriend’s arms, face buried in her shoulder. She started to shake, like she was holding herself back from crying again.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you.” Her words were muffled by his hair, but he heard them pretty clearly. “I could say the same.” He thought as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

Withdrawing the hug, Samira lifts up their glasses and uses her sleeve to wipe her glossy eyes. “Alright then it’s settled,” her tone and mood suddenly shifting, “grab an apron and a hair tie cause we’re gonna bake this fucking cake!” She shouts as she pumped her fists in the air with a huge grin on her face. 

Lio couldn’t help but be excited as well, Samira’s enthusiasm was just too infectious.

  
  
  


————————

  
  


“Okay so first, you dip the oreos into this cup of half n half cream for at least thirty seconds, that includes the mini ones too.” Samira instructed as Lio was opening the packages of oreos. “How many do we need again?” he asks, “Hmmm about 12 each!” he nods. 

Samira goes to the cupboard and takes out a shiny pink cake pan, she sets it down on the counter near Lio, “Then you put the oreos in here! The mini ones will fill in the tiny spaces that the cookies can’t reach, if you get what I’m saying.” She’s not the best at explaining things but Lio understands what she means this time.

“So the oreos are the crust, it’s not part of the batter?” 

“Yeah! I always found it really neat that we can turn simple oreos into a crust without exactly crushing them, y’know?” He nods as he starts to dip the oreos with a fork, instantly getting to work. Meanwhile, Samira gets started on the batter, putting in 4 blocks of cream cheese, 3 eggs, ¼ cup of heavy cream, a teaspoon of vanilla, and a half cup of sugar. She then uses a hand mixer to blend all the ingredients together until it was completely smooth.

After filling in the last crack with a mini oreo, Lio was done with the crust. “Hey dude can you get me the other mixing bowl from the bottom right drawer near the oven?” Samira asks, “Oh! And also the emergency red velvet cake mix!” Lio nodded and fetched the requested items. He sets them down on the counter next to Samira, as she grabs the bowl she pours half of the batter into it. She moves the first bowl aside.

“Okay!” she claps her hands, “This part’s kind of important, we’re going to separate these two batters, cause we’re mixing one of them with the red velvet cake mix! You’ll see why soon.” 

Samira tries opening the box of cake mix, but fails. “MAN! This thing is sealed tight!” “Let me try.” Lio signals her to give him the box, he opens it with ease.

  
  


“...showoff.” she mutters. Lio just smirks at her, “Well I was the leader of a notorious biker gang that was on the run for years.”

“Alright then Big Boss, why don’t you mix it then?” She sassed him, though it was more playful then serious.

“Gladly.” He pours the mix into the batter and grabs the hand mixer. Just as he’s about to turn it on, he realizes something.

“...”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!”

“...”

“...”

“You don’t know how to turn it on do you?”

“...no.”

Samira facepalms, “You press this button, then you’re gonna choose how fast you want it to go.” She presses the switch and the beaters start to mix into the cake batter. “Hold the bowl so it doesn’t move around too much while you’re mixing.” Lio stands perfectly still, he grips the bowl tightly, afraid that he might knock it over. “You can move it around y'know! Like this;” she puts her hand on Lio’s and gently scootches the beater to the right, “See? You got it!” Lio doesn’t say anything, as he’s too focused whisking the cake batter until it starts turning a bright red. 

“Now don’t stop mixing until you can’t see anymore lumps.” She advises, “You don’t wanna mix it for too long or else it’ll get too runny. I’m gonna get some measuring cups, you just keep on whisking! ” Lio nods. 

After a few minutes, Lio turns off the mixer and checks to see if there's any lumps in the batter. “I think it’s good now.” he said as he wiped the excess batter off of his hands.

Samira walks over to double check it, “Perfect! Now here comes the hard part.” She cautiously grabs the cake pan holding the oreos and sets it down between the batter bowls. She takes a medium sized measuring cup, scoops the red velvet batter and thoroughly pours it over the oreos. “Now” she hands Lio a second measuring cup, “you pour some white batter over the red, then I pour over white, and we keep doing this until it fills most of the cake pan.”

Like instructed, they each took a turn to pour batter onto the crust, careful not to overfill. Once finished, Lio looks at the almost finished pastry in awe, “Oh I get it. It looks like a candy cane!” Samira nods “Mmhmm! But it still needs something.”

Lio gives her a questionable look, she opens a drawer and takes out a wooden skewer. She drags it across the top of the cheesecake to create a small floral design.

“NOW it looks like a candy cane! Let’s pop this baby in the oven!”

“Wait did you preheat it?”

  
  
  


“...Oh goddamnit.”

  
  


————————

Even though they had to wait for it to heat up, the cake was finally in the oven.

After cleaning the kitchen, taking out the cake to decorate it, and ordering takeout for dinner, Samira and Lio were now lounging on the couch watching Disney’s Once Upon a Christmas, enjoying the fruits of their labor with some hot chocolate.

Samira was passionately infodumping to Lio about why it’s her favourite Christmas Movie of all time, while Lio was listening with a content smile on his face.

“...and it’s ALWAYS been a tradition to my family, mostly me, to watch this movie EVERY year on Christmas! It always brought me a warm comfort, since Christmas was always a stressful time for my family. Just...seeing those goofy tales over and over again made me feel so...elated with joy. And don’t get me started on Max and Goofy’s story, that one ALWAYS made me emotional because Goofy’s such a good dad!!” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah!! I mean the man nearly stayed out ALL night in the freezing cold just so he could prove that Santa was real for his kid! I just love this movie SO much-” She stops her triade once she hears that the movie just ended...and then realized she spent the majority of it infodumping to Lio. 

“Ah” her face turns bright red, “I got carried away again. Sorry.” She takes a sip of cocoa trying to wash down her embarrassment.

“No you’re fine!” He reassures her.

“I literally spent the entire movie gushing about how much I loved it though!”

“Yeah but it’s nice,” He rests his head on their shoulder, “ I like hearing your thoughts.”

Samira was on the verge of crying again, she really didn’t deserve him. 

They sat in a comfortable silence, basking in each other's warmth and company for what seemed like hours.

Samira was the first to break it.

“Y’know,” she began, “I have a small question, if you don’t mind me asking that is.”

Lio sat up from her shoulder to look at her, “What is it?”

“Do you remember what your first Christmas was like?”

Hearing her question made Lio go quiet again. She slowly starts to regret asking him, fearing she may have made him uncomfortable.

Samira knew right from the beginning of their relationship that Lio was **very** secretive about his past. She did hear from a certain firefighter, however, that he almost destroyed the city in a fit of blind rage and sadness but to her, it was justified.

He was never a very open person to begin with but from the looks of it, he probably closed himself off for a lot of reasons. She never pushed him though, that’s the last thing she wanted. 

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have-”

“I was four, I think.”

Samira was surprised he answered but stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

“I remember my parents setting up the Christmas lights outside our house, my dad nearly fell off the ladder three times. He didn’t like Winter that much.” Lio stood up from the couch and gradually walked toward the giant Christmas tree in the corner, he gingerly touched one of the ornaments with his fingers as if they were the most fragile thing to hold. “I also remember my sister lifting me up so I could put ornaments on our tree, she even let me put up the star.” Lio smiles fondly at the memory, _god_ he wished his sister was here to see this.

“I’d give anything to relive that Christmas again.”

He feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks over to see Samira, an empathetic look on her face.

“It must’ve been amazing.”

“It was..” Lio turns to face Samira he then takes her hand and holds it softly

“But so was this one.”

Samira blushes as Lio looks at her with the most loving smile she’s ever seen.

“Ever since I met you, you’ve shown me nothing but kindness and compassion. For so long I thought that I could never be happy again, to love again. You’ve shown me that I can still be those things! And for that I...love you. I love you so much Samira. No Christmas gift or wish would be worth anything if you're not here with me.” Tears had gathered in the corners of Lio’s eyes, he didn’t mean to get so emotional but he couldn’t help it.

Samira on the other hand, had tears running down her cheeks. Not only had Lio had spoken the most beautiful and heartfelt speech she’s ever heard in her entire life, but this was the very first time he said “I love you” to her.

“I love you too you big dork!” They sniffed as they enveloped Lio in their arms and spun him around, both laughing heartily. Pulling away slightly, Lio puts his hands on her cheeks, wiping away the tears that were already falling down. He then leans in closer to softly capture her lips in his.

  
  


Their first Christmas may have had a messy beginning, but it was sure going to be something they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.

  
  
  


All because of a cake.

**Author's Note:**

> This was the cake they made btw  
> https://soyummy.com/recipe/red-velvet-marbled-cheesecake/
> 
> Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/lio_wife19  
> and Tumblr: https://kittykatanimelove19.tumblr.com/
> 
> <33


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